Introduction

Greetings everyone. I am Tele-Tele from the League of Telemarketers. While I am not great and all,I am here to explain the basic gameplay of a Shyvana,the Half-dragon(Until you have a hundred fury. \o/ )

I want you to understand I may or may not qualify to actually make a guide for people who are genuinely wanting to be experts but she is the one champ I am confident with to take up against anyone,regardless of who they are. That is why I would like to show you why I feel so confident with her.

Pros / Cons

Pros

-She is a half a dragon,half a babe.
-Her early damage potential is really good.
-Her junling is comparatively faster and easier.
-No mana.
-After Six,you have a good escape,initiation,displacement,damage and a modifier,all wrapped in one.
-Her teamfight presence is GODLY.
-She can 2 v 1 champions who have no CC after a few items. (but careful to not try this if you can likely escape. It's never worth it to die if you can live.)

Cons

-She has NO sustain.
-She has NO CC pre six.
-She is squishy pre six.
-No Gap Closer. A.K.A Her Ganks suck.
-Her boobs are smaller and less revealing(until recently)
-Her damage is sustained rather than burst. You have to keep yourself in range to do that heavy damage to your opponent.
-This might be the biggest con. She is strong but it can easily get into your head. Thus,over confidence is a nasty con.
-Very Kitable. I lost to an Ashe once. I felt pathetic since I was dominating everyone else.

Summoner Spells

Exhaust is a necessity to Shyvana in my book. She has no natural CC yet she requires herself to stick to an opponent to do her damage. It would be really hard to do so for other than 3 seconds. Thank god you have a summoner spell to help you out to finish the Job.

How to use Exhaust?

It's very simple,use it when you have your opponent's health bar is on about 40% of their health. Why? Because around this time,they will either run or play with you some more. With exhaust on, their damage is reduced and you are free to whack them around. If they try to run,you are free to whack them some more!! Win win.

After you have gain a good advantage over them,you are free to whack them some more without the exhaust. feel free to use it to escape ganks,slow opponents down and on fed carries.

Now people may argue why not take flash? Well,my reasoning is,I never needed flash for this women. She takes everything head on and just rushes out of danger. I put in the ward in the items category because I always ward the river. This way no ganks really get to me and those which do,I use exhaust on them. Flash is just an escape once every few minutes. Exhasut feels more reliable to me with someone who can take it and run away. Besides,after six,in laning phase,her dragon is nearly up every time.

Smite is for jungling. With her already fast clear,smite adds fuel to fire. Her clear times are great and you are a happy man.

Ignite,however may seem odd at first sight but it really is not that big of a deal.

As I explained earlier,she has to stick to her opponents to do damage. So what if people run away from the needed range or simply flash? You ignite their butt and hope it kills them. With ignite on,the damage sky rockets and it is really comfortable when you fight against opponents like Yorick and Vladmir(except Vladmir can pool out of there.)

How to use ignite?

My way of using ignite is rather easy. Fight with them. drop them to about 20 % of their health and if they are still fighting you,ignite them and keep fighting. They will die in the most likely case. If they run away,stop and see if you can kill them. If you can't don't waste your ignite.

Another useful thing to do is use it when fighting someone like Yorick or Vlad or anyone with sustain. It really breaks them down because sustain mechs are pretty important for people who specialize in sustain(No DUH!!) It brings them down since they sustain due to the brawl and that is an advantage.

I won't suggest any other spell since their are none I find better than these for using with Shyvana. You can use Flash if you feel out of comfort zone. You can use Heal if you want that sudden life rejoice. You can use Barrier for bigger,shorter life sha-bang. But for me,I would recommend you to stick to ignite or smite with exhaust.

Runes

Runes

Greater Mark of Attack Speed9

Greater Seal of Armor9

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist9

Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed3

For lane

Runes

Greater Mark of Attack Speed9

Greater Seal of Armor9

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist9

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed3

For Jungling

Marks

While Shyvana is sharply built with AD rather than AP,she is not a complete physical damage champ but a hybrid damage champ. She converts AD is magical damage through her main damage spell,Burnout. Therefore,neither Physical penetration nor Magical Penetration is rushed. Hybrid penetration feel cheap and not too rewarding to me.

Therefore I choose attack speed over everything else. With attack speed marks,you can reach close to 1 attack per second starting from level one. Considering it helps her Twin Bite come more often off cooldown,procs more Flame Breath debuffs and elongates her Burnout,it's easily the best option in marks.

Glpyhs

Remember how I said,she isn't exactly a very durable champ in the cons. this is where you change that depending on who you are matched up with.

If you have an opponent who does magical damage rather than physical damage,I suggest you get flat magic resistance glyphs to minimize their spell damage. It really helps early on.

If you have opponents who utilize physical damage or you are jungling,you can use magic resistance per level glpyhs which will give you a higher magic resistance by the time you reach the teamfights.

Seals

For seals,I suggest you take flat armor seals. It improves your jungle tankiness and in lane,you can tank minion waves and clear it with your burnout. Addition to that,physical damage opponents will not be able to do as much damage.

Quintessences

For Quints,I go with attack speed quints in lane. It easily helps me reach about 1 attack damage per second which is really good I tell you. Really good.

For jungling,I rather go with movement speed quints to give a bit of a faster movement speed. I'll explain it why to you shortly. It's not a very big advantage but it works.

Masteries

For masteries it's 21-9-0 for lane.

Masteries

4/5

4/1

4/5

1/5

1/1

1/1

2/5

3/

1/

4/1

3/1

1/5

1/1

I use 21-9-0 masteries because,as I already mentioned,her early damage is great. If you hit the guy,you can beat the guy. With these masteries focused on armor pen,magic pen,damage and a bit of tankiness,you get good results coupled with a few potions and your summoner spells.

11-16-3 For jungling

Masteries

4/5

2/1

4/1

1/1

4/1

2/1

3/1

1/5

1/5

1/1

1/5

3/1

3/5

Taking armour pen and attack speed in offence,
life,tenacy and armour in defence and
2% movement speed when out of combat in utility
while taking everything concerning jungle creeps in offence and defense.

You take armour pen because jungle creeps have armour. While only minute effect takes place,it's better than nothing while still scaling with late game ^^

2% movement speed might not be a lot. But it helps out. If you feel it doesn't,feel free to swap it for a point in destruction and two points for AD. Your choice.

Since you might argue why not go 9-21-0. I won't say don't go. i already told you you can go anything you like. Feel free to find your comfort zone. This MY comfort zone. And I will tell you why.

I take everything concerning jungling because I will be spending most of my time in the jungle. After that offense leave me with 9 points. The four points on attack speed because you need attack speed. The points on attack damage is simple because I want that percent penetration. Why? Because none of my items give me penetration.

Late game,your damage stack up to 180 or 300+ depending on which build you make. If you don't have any penetration,you might lose to other bruiser who build a lot of armour. Now 8% might not look a lot but if your opponenet has 200 armour,you shed 16. Now if you do notice or not,but the more armour you make the less effective it starts to be. So vice versa,the more armor you shed,the effective your attacks will be.

Basically I am telling if you lower them by a certain amount,they shed a good amount of damage reduction if they have high armour. The lower the their armour the more tanky they will be as they build armour. If they have high armour,the extra armour will just be a drag and not well spent. It's not that big a deal but it helps to get your constant damage through.

If this is not reasonable to you,you can 9-21-0 or 6-21-3 depending on if you like movement speed. But sure enough,for me,this feels about right. Remember. Being creative is the way to go. If I ever feel I need to change I will. But not right now. I feel great enough with this mastery ^^

Spells

Explaining her spells is a bit tricky. Everyone of her spells have a passive effect thanks to her passive, Fury of the Dragonborn. Therefore I will explain the passive with the spells itself.

It is exactly what it means. You know the dragon fang thingy she attacks you with? She will attack her opponent with both of them at the same time,creating a bite. This acts as a secondary auto attack but with a few difference.

When your auto attack is buffed by this spell,there will be two hits at the same time. The first hit is completely normal,capable of oh-hits,critical and life steal. The second part is a bit different.

The second part of the spell hits with only 80% of you total attack damage until you level it up to 5 in which case,it will hit with 100% of your attack damage. Also,while it is capable of applying on-hit and life steal,it can't critically strike opponents. This is why most people frown on making crit for Shyvana. But anything you build attack speed on,you can make do with crit. Note that this counts as a second auto attack so it stacks with every auto attack related subject such as her other passives or the Hextech Gunblade.

Passively.the spell's cooldown is lower by half a second everytime she auto attacks. YAY Attack speed.

This spell is her primary damage tool and is the most awesome thing. For the next three seconds,she will deal a small amount pf magic damage in a small AOE around her. She will also gain movement speed which is gradually go away. So why is is it awesome? Because it can last up to 7 seconds.

While not attacking,she only lasts for 3 seconds. But if she is able to auto attack,she can extend the duration by 4 seconds,enabling you to be awesome for further duration. Thus,you have yourself massive damage in a longer period of time. It scales on AD so WOO-HOO!!

This spell is also useful to escape situations. So awesome all over the place.

It is a linear skillshot which damages and debuffs the first target you hit. While the damage is not too shabby,the debuff is a lot sweeter. You do 15% of the total damage per hit. So lots of hitting. Lots of power. Also,did I mention she takes 15% of the armour away? yup. Pretty sweet. And that is her passive btw. On-hit effect.

Passively you gain armour and magic resist. But the active is a lot sweeter.

When you press the active(Which you can only do if you have a 100 fury BTW),you can jump a really good distance while damaging in a line,knocking them back and while doing all that,transforming into a dragon. Pretty sweet huh? But being a dragon is not all for the show. It comes with it's own props.

In dragon form,your passive armour and magic resist given by the Dragon's Descent spell is doubled.

Your Burnout leaves a fiery trail which is pretty awesome when people chase after you. It does the same damage and stays for 2 seconds.

Your Flame Breath is now a standard flame thrower that will hit everyone in a cone in front of you. No more targeting for a single person.

So yeah,it's a modifier. Passively,you gain 1 fury per 1.5 seconds and 2 fury per auto attack. So the more you auto attack,the better your chances of staying in your dragon form or getting your ultimate back up. No cooldown. You just need to be angry.

Skill Sequence

In Lane-

Ability Sequence

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

You level Flame Breath first because you don't want to engage until you have all three of your spells. Alone,none of the spells are that great. Together,they are the bomb. So yeah,just farm till level 3. Use your flame breath to last hit minions you can't reach.

After that, focus on getting your Burnout since it is your main source of damage. Then go for Flame Breath because you want that higher burst against champions in lane when you exchange blows. And finally Twin Bite.

In Jungle-

Ability Sequence

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

You focus on Twin Bite rather than Flame Breath because while jungling,you come against objectives which you can clear solo a.k.a Dragon. Twin Bite really helps since it procs Wriggle's Lantern's passive twice every few seconds. Thus enabling you to clear the Dragon faster.

Items

There is one item you HAVE to build on her for her to stay awesome and that is the Frozen Mallet. This item allows you to stick to your target which is ultimately what you want to do as Shyvana. Beyond that,great synergy with your ultimate's passive defensive stats and a bit of AD.

Now that we have got that out of the way,let talk about boots. There are three boots I find viable in case of Shyvana.

One of the most considered boots. It lowers the CC time thus it is very optimal when your opponent teams have a lot of CC with them. This useful for the later half of the game as well so It is pretty a standard choice for you.

If your opponent has more than 4 second of movement constricting CC as a team,you will want to get this. Or if you have an AP jungler too.

Ninja tabi is usually for lanes. If you have a laner whose entire kit revolves around hitting you e.g Xin,Jax,Kah'Zix. E.T.C you want these boots to cut off their power. These boots perform very well against these champions. Thus,I would suggest these boots for such situation.

This one is my personal favorite. As Shyvana,you will be moving around a LOT. This boot has the highest base movement speed at any time therefore you will be able to move in and move out of trouble anytime.

While it doesn't give any defensive stat,you do have a passive that reduces slow which is pretty cool.

So I like this one. It gives you the freedom you need. Use it when your opponent's jungler ganks a lot. And I'll tell you why and how later on.

Now that boots are gone,you have 4 spots left in your inventory. Next item on list is sustain.

Life steal is an important part of your build. You have to be strong and survive in games. If you can't,you're screwed.

Blade of the Ruined King is very good for Shyvana. She has perfect synergy with the attack speed,the attack damage,on-hit effect and it's active which is your ranged CC. You will want to take this item if you are interested in killing rather than disruption,AOE power and tankiness.

Ravenous Hydra is the AOE solution for sustain. As I told you earlier,it will give you some disruption power,AOE power and tankiness. While it isn't exactly tankiness,you get more sustain if it procs it's passive on multiple targets and you will last longer. It also has a higher AD thus more damage and more sustain and the AOE adds fuel to your fire. So it is an optimal choice if you are building a little tankier version of Shyvana.

Wriggle's Lantern is the item of coice for a jungler Shyvana. It's sustain is good enough and you have the greatest clear times. After you have this baby,a few potions and you can solo dragon after level 6. Sell it for a Hydra or Blade of the ruined King. When? When one of your team can solo dragon without having to lose a quarter of their health bar.

Now,the remaining three slots are your ocean. You can build anything there but as Shyvana I suggest you build tanky items from here. I'll give you a few of my favorites and why.

Wits end is an item that will steal their MR,give you MR,give you attack speed and basically make you hit harder than ever. It's very good at what it does and it's synergy with W is exceptional. You will want this if you build a Blade of the Ruined King since they both have on-hits and give attack speed. More oh-hits means a happier second proc on Twin Bite.

While Wit's end is exceptional at what it does,if you are going for a tankier build,maw is the better choice. Why? Because it give the higher amount of magic resist than Wits end does initially. Apart from that,it also give you a shield. So it's a really good item for tanking purposes.

So if you are going for Hydra,pick this up. It will synergies with your Hydra's passive and give you higher damage. More AOE damage with Burnout. Basically,a lot of AOE damage.

This item right here is GODLY. It reduces attack speed when you are hit and as a tank,you will be hit often. Beyond that,great armour stat and a good amount of health to keep you rolling. Now that is awesome for Shyvana. But beyond that? AOE slow. Good CC which comes in handy since it lasts longer with more MR and AR. You get 0.8 second more just for being in dragon from. It's awesome I tell you. Build it under normal circumstances. It's part of the regular build I build.

You know when the ADC gets fed like a boss or you have an AD Yi? Yeah,take this guy. While it isn't as spectacular as Randuin's omen,this guys does it's job pretty well. We all know,most of the ADC don't build any defensive item until the final item or fifth item. Thus,this item counters them while keeping you alive and health from their physical damage. Adding to your own,you got yourself a deal. Don't build it on a regular basis on anyone except Rammus. You can get this instead of Randuin's Omen.

This item has the highest solo MR(Magic resist) in game. Therefore,if no one builds,don't hesitate to build it. It gives great stats and it helps your team out. Great item. Build it if no one does and only if no one does.

If you are going tanky and someone has Runic,you build this item. It's synergy as an MR item with you is great. Firstly good defensive stat with fine health bonus. After that,you have CD which is really good for your Q and E. Beyond that,it's passive gives you more sustain through your Ravenous Hydra. Overall,it's a great item if you want that extra MR.

Now Guardian Angel is an item for people who want to go kill their carries rather than tank the damage. Why? Because any other item cannot give you a second chance to kill that guy. If you take any other item,you will have to tank the damage of the mage or any other devastating champion on the other side who might kill you. With Guardian Angel,you revive,use your active on blade of the ruined king and get back in the game. So it's a very good item if you want to do that since it will take away all the major spells off the mage.

This item is all about if your enemy team's support is suppose to disrupt you with stuns and slows or if your opponent is Malzahar or Urgot. Use this item only when you're sure they can't kill you if they can't stun you. With this item,you have a good burst of speed enabling your to catch up to them faster.

Many argue the reason why I choose phantom dancer over Trinity Force which clearly gives a great deal of damage. Well my answer is simple. It's because it has a higher chance to proc crits with greater attack speed. Also,it enables you to pass through anyone thus this gives you a straight path to killing the opponent champions. Also,the on-hits that you have stacked with E and Wits end and Blade of the Ruined King proc faster. Thus,if you want to go offensive,I suggest you go Phantom Dancer over Trinity Force.

It's late game. There is no more backing out. Everything is down to this last team fight and now it's up to you to do the killing. What do you do? Sell that boots and get the Zephyr. It's movement speed boost will give you a good enough approach speed while the other stats will enable you to do higher damage with greater speed and you will be hitting them hard. But only use this if you guys feel you are evenly matched or lower and you need that advantage.

And that about covers up my usual build options. Always remember though you are free to try and experiment items you feel you can do good with. So you don't always have to do what I do. Do what you find good. I am just here to help. This is not the only way to play Shyvana.

Early Gameplay

Her Standard Lane gameplay-

Before we even start,remember,start with a boot,2 pots and a ward. Ward the river before making any ballsy move. You need to be careful before being daring. After you have the advantage, always ward anywhere you need to. Wards save life.

Now the fighting combo

It's very easy actually.

First what you need to do is level up all three spells as you reach level three. Now this is the combo,you're suppose to use.

- Land your Flame Breath (It will take some practice)
- Activate Burnout and catch up to your opponent.
- Auto attack and press Q immediately after the auto attack which refreshes the auto attack timer giving you three hits.
- Continue if you feel you're in advantage or disengage as you feel.
- Repeat until they reach 40% of their health.
- At 40% of their health,repeat this combo,and use exhaust in middle of the engagement.
- Kill them with ignite if needed.

And that's all you need to do. As Shyvana,you usually have the damage advantage and great wave clear. You should focus on pressuring them and making sure they don't get ahead of you but make sure you have the required defense in order to survive and chuck on that Health Potion.

Continue pressuring them until you kill them or pressure them off the lane to their base. Also,if you hadn't noticed,Shyvana is great tower pusher. After clearing the creep wave quick,just spam your Twin Bite on the tower to take it down. With the attack speed boost through runes and masteries,you have a great tower destruction power.

Using your Dragon's Descent is key because Dragon's Descent is almost a free ticket to escapeville. Fight normally when you get the chance to and don't need to use it. With exhaust and ignite,you shouldn't have a problem. So when to used Dragon's descent?

-When you have to run away. And if you have to,make sure there are no CC left. Because they can stop you mid way. Remember that.

-When the opponent has about 50% of their health and you have no exhaust or ignite. Just jump on the guy,do 200 damage and kill him in the duration.

Else,you don't need to use it in the laning phase.

Also,on a side note,after destroying their tower,gank mid lane. Mid lane usually have CC,mid laners are squishy and your damage is really high so they will die if they get caught.

In the jungle-

Her jungling is rather complicated. Since all you are good at is farming,you have to resort to creeping rather than ganking early on.

Here is what I do. I start at our red. I move to our Wraiths-> Wolves-> Blue,and then I move to get my wraiths again. After that,I get the golems. And recall.

I immediately get Madred's Razor and a few pots along with a few wards. Then I ward two ends of my jungle. Why? Because she is squishy early on with no sustain. If someone counter jungles me when I am low on health,I am screwed. So always being careful is a good thing. If they counter jungle now,we will know it thus,we will get that sucker.

Now that my jungle is safe,I look for the enemy jungler. If he is bot or has recently been seen bot,I take the top jungle and take his wolves. If he is seen top,I take the wraiths. And then,I check up the buffed lizard and the Golem and every time I see it up,I rush it or simply ward it and pick it up via Smite. Remember to use your wriggle's ward to ward the enemy path so that you can run if you need to. Always be careful.

Also,if the enemy jungler is seen with low health anwywhere on the map,you can enter his jungle regardless of where he is. You have a high damage potential. Kill the guy and proceed to running away. If he recalls,take away all his jungle creeps.

I don't gank as much with Shyvana. But you should try and gank a pushed lane. Gank top as much as possible because top is the one lane that has only one river opening. They can ward but it only takes one pink to deward. Also,lot of tops don't have any escape or defensive CC pre six. So utilize this fact.

Mid are a little harder since mid usually has a good CC or an escape mech.

Bot lane is hell. You have a support who is MEANT to keep you at bay and it's most warded. So ganking there is usually hell. But if you can sneak in to it somehow,you're in luck. You can take both of them out prior to that they are weak from a previous encounter.

At level 6-7,if you have a lantern and a few pots along with a defense item(Ruby stone),deward the dragon pit and make everyone pressure the opponents of the lane so that no one suspects you are doing the dragon. You can do so don't fret. Use your Dragon from,spam your spells and glup down potions.

Everything else is basic jungling.

Also a neat trick is to make people think you're invading their blue by using your team mates to pressure them on their blue while you do the red solo. Yeah,you can solo the buffs as long as you have smite.

And that pretty much covers everything I do for jungling.

Mid Gameplay

Mid game is basically saying are you fed or are you not? If I am fed,I like to go offensive,dominating everyone. But if someone else in my team is dominating,I build the tankier build. Remember,if your team has a good assassin,you don't need to go offensive,just need to protect your team mates. Thus,this phase is the time to realize if you're going offense or doing defense. That is all mid game about.

Remember to crush towers if possible,

And oh,Objectives. Always remember to time dragon since it's free gold and exp if you can get the time to. Also,early Baron with top if possible. It's kinda hard though,so I wont suggest it.

By now,you should be capable of ganking if you're jungling. So gank anyone you feel,tank the towers and feel free to share your kills. Because you can't win this game alone.

Late Gameplay and Team fights.

Late game is all about pushing towers as a team and destroying their base. If you can do a safe baron,do it. But NEVER rush Baron. It could return as a fatal mistake.

By now,you should either be a tanky champion or a good damage dealer.

Either way,you should focus on what you're good at.

In a team fight,I would suggest,not to initiate. If you have another initiator,use him or let them initiate. Why? Because your ultimate pushes them back ultimately,leaving you vulnerable for about a second. So use it when they engage and try to close in on your carries. Stop them on their tracks with Frozen Mallet and Randuin's Omen. Your damage should still get through and you should be tanking a lot of damage. And use the Hydra active and spam your spells while keeping your enemy bruisers at bay.

Ultimately you want to keep hitting people and destroy your desired target and nothing more. Don't stop doing that you should be good.

You are good at split pushing too. So if you want,do that. But it severely endangers your team if you can't make it in time. it's better to stick to your team for team fights as Shyvana.

Some Champions You don't want to face at all.

She is likely the worst nightmare you will every have. She will kite you and kite you and kite you and she can go on all day. Make sure you can catch her before engaging her.

On par as the nightmare. while she doesn't have that slow,she has tumble and the ability to do true damage. Also,go invisible,so get a oracle if you ever go against her.

Yeah,flash-laser beam-flash-laser beam-laser beam-laser beam-flash-FINAL SHOT!!! and we are dead. I don't follow this guy because I can't catch him at all. Some say all you have to dodge his skill shot. Yeah,sure every two seconds you can run away from people who are really good with skill shots.

He isn't a big deal pre 11 and such. After a few items,yeah,you might not be lucky if he is good. But with exhaust and ignite. You should be able to do great on the laning phases. besides,this guy is susceptible to ganks.

Ranged guy who can pool out of there. Honestly,laning this guy feels a lot worst than Yorick to em. Yorick bearable to me. I do fine against Yoricks because I burn his ghouls,I kick his *** and I use potions and get life steal. This guy,I can't even hit since he pools out. it's annoying as hell.

You got to be lucky against this guy to win. He won't you approach him. He will poke you with range. He wont allow you to catch up. He will catch up to you anytime he wants. Basically he will completely ruin your ****. Change your lane with your mid. It will be better that way.

Yeah,the blind and the vault and her ultimate. Basically,you won't be catching her a lot.

Other champions,you shouldn't have much troubles if you know the champion. My tip is to always know what your enemy can do. If you don't,you are fighting aliens without even knowing their fire power.

Summary

Well this was long guide. Also my first but it should give you basic idea of what Shyvana can do and how you can do it. Always remember Shyvana is a champion. If you're good,she will make you better. Always be careful and never be over confident. Shyvana player suffer the consequences very badly. Play her a few times and you will come to love her.